The Fourth Bird's Call
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day fifty-five: 12 Days of Gleekmas, day 4: It's Matt's birthday, and he's waiting on a very important call.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a second cycle. Now entering the seventh through ninth weeks, here comes cycle 3 of my gleekathon!_

_I wanted to do something Christmas-y, but not overly so, but then the song was perfect for this. So the stories in and of themselves aren't Christmas-themed, just the thing that inspired them is ;) You'll see :)_

_So presenting... **The 12 Days of Gleekmas - Day 4:** Matt + "Four Calling Birds"_

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**"The Fourth Bird's Call"  
Matt**

When he'd woken up that morning, he was barely awake, groggy, but even then he remembered… it was his birthday. His nose woke up to his mother's cooking, the closer he got to the kitchen. He walked in, still rubbing at his eyes, and arms wrapped around him.

"Happy Birthday, Matty," his mother hugged him and he blinked, still waking up.

"Thanks, Mom," he mumbled, covered his mouth as he yawned.

After breakfast – which had worked its wonders to wake him up and quiet his rumbling stomach – the phone calls had started… it was the weekend, and normally he would have been out, hanging out with friends, whatever he wanted. And that would have been what he'd have done… But he had a reason to stick around.

The previous summer, he and his family had gone on vacation to New York. He had an aunt and uncle there, but they had stayed in a hotel… and for that, he'd met Sasha.

Sasha Wilcox had also been on vacation with her family, hailing from England. He met her when, one rainy afternoon, he'd opted for the indoor pool. He was heading for a dive when he spotted the girl sitting by the large windows, staring out at the city below. He lost his train of thought, looking at her… long raven ponytail, freckled skin…

His foot knocked into a nearby pool chair and it scratched noisily against the ground. It startled him out of the gaze… it also drew her attention. He held his hand up as though to apologize. She took it as a wave, and she returned it with a smile. He'd hesitated for a moment, but then he'd walked around the pool. He came to a stop, a short distance from her, repeating his wave. "Hi," he started. She stared up at him with gray eyes and a smile… he almost felt a gulp.

"Hi," she replied, eyes moving back down for a moment, before looking back at him. She nodded lightly to the seat next to her. He took it.

Sasha and her family were to fly back to England four days later; Matt was heading home in six. Both families were going to enjoy the sites, which made wishes for either of them to spend time together a little more difficult… But there was determination. Every night after dinner, every morning before they headed out, Matt and Sasha met at the indoor pool.

The night before Sasha was set to leave, they decided they'd take their last meet outside of their usual spot.

They had two hours and they used them well. Shy little Sasha was suddenly tourist-with-a-plan-and-a-camera Sasha. They hit every site they could, with Sasha pulling Matt along. At each point, she had someone take their picture.

"You're going to be late," he told her as they were leaving yet another place. She was looking at her camera, smirking at the latest picture. She turned the camera over to let him see and he laughed. When he looked back at her, she had a look on her face spelling out pure mischief. "What?" he asked. There was a flash of the old shy Sasha before she slung one arm around his shoulder, the other holding out the camera. He had no time to ponder what was happening… it would remain a haze, a wonderful haze, immortalized by the camera. One kiss, the only one they could have for… who knew how long? They'd returned to the hotel afterward, where they'd had to say their goodbyes. They'd exchanged contact information, but they knew… it would be a long time before they were in the same place again.

Over the next few months, they had kept in touch. His webcam had been broken for a while, but a couple months later, he'd finally been able to get a new one and to speak with her 'face to face.'

He hadn't told his friends about her, they'd probably laugh at him. But she made him happy… so he didn't care about them.

Santana had called first, to wish him a happy birthday. He'd gotten a call from Mercedes, then Brittany. The whole time, his eyes veered back to his computer screen, waiting for the window to pop up and prompt him with the incoming video call. He'd just hung up with Brittany when it came. He moved to sit at his computer, clicking to accept the call. When Sasha's face popped on to the screen, he smiled. She smiled right back.

"Happy Birthday," she spoke cheerfully. "I wasn't sure when you'd be up," she explained.

"Thanks," he smirked.

"Did you get it?" she asked hopefully, and he nodded. "You didn't open it yet, did you?"

"You told me not to," he shook his head, grabbing the package at the foot of his desk.

"Well go on then, open it!" she waved her hand for him to do it. As he opened the box, he could tell she was observing him intently. When he saw what was inside, he grinned. Inside were a number of souvenirs from Liverpool. He'd long been playfully teasing her for the number of souvenirs she'd gotten from New York. "Now we're even," she laughed as he started pulling out all the little items.

"This is awesome," he nodded, chuckling as he pulled out a hat, put it on his head. That got a laugh out of her.

"I like it," she nodded. "I was right, you do have a good hat head."

"Hat head?" he chuckled.

"Hey, it's no joke," she defended. "My brother does not have a good hat head, it's just…" she gestured around her head and grimaced. Matt just had to smile, watching her explanations. She was just mesmerizing to him. Every time they spoke like this, there was the good and the bad. On one side, he was thrilled to see her face, but then it would always remind him – and her – that they were not likely to see each other again any time…

It was his birthday, Sasha was there, on his screen… the rest didn't matter at the moment.

THE END


End file.
